Whats Lying on your Workbench MK IV

[pengbuzz]

5 hours ago, tekering said:

Maybe I can be of further assistance.  Drop me a DM and we can discuss options. 

The Black Hole?  What a glorious disaster that film was. 😅

Incredible miniature photography, awe-inspiring production design, a deeply haunting score, and some jaw-dropping visual effects... 😯

...along with some miserably poor dialogue, a cartoonish disregard for science, and some truly awful compositing. 🙄

Be careful what you wish for...

MPC's kit was over-simplified, proportionally-inaccurate, and entirely molded in solid grey. 

Just try lighting that one, bitches! 😂

Careful there Tekkering... you don't know the power of masking tape.

[tekering]

6 minutes ago, pengbuzz said:

you don't know the power of masking tape.

Not masking tape... reflective tape. 😉

It might be a viable alternative to painting the vintage POS. 😂

[pengbuzz]

12 minutes ago, tekering said:

Not masking tape... reflective tape. 😉

It might be a viable alternative to painting the vintage POS. 😂

No, masking tape.  As in remove all the areas with the gridwork, replace them with sheets of masking tape, draw the gridwork back on and light it from within.

[tekering]

Of course, scratch-building the whole thing would probably be easier. 😂

[pengbuzz]

1 minute ago, tekering said:

Of course, scratch-building the whole thing would probably be easier. 😂

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Edited August 22 by pengbuzz

[nightmareB4macross]

Silly head pilots.

[Bolt]

You are massaging that into a fine piano, my friend 

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

You are massaging that into a fine piano, my friend 

Thank you.

One day it will be a grand one at that.

For now it’s still a baby.

[Papa Rat]

1 minute ago, nightmareB4macross said:

Thank you.

One day it will be a grand one at that.

For now it’s still a baby.

Hahahaha. Love that little fella ♥️

[Thom]

7 hours ago, tekering said:

...

Nice collection! Hoping the rereleases will come out soon! 

Coming along great on that Battroid @nightmareB4macross And yes, that little guy is soo cute!!!

And @pengbuzz it looks like you'll just need eight paper towel roles to start the Reinhardt's Folly!😁

[pengbuzz]

6 hours ago, Thom said:

Nice collection! Hoping the rereleases will come out soon! 

Coming along great on that Battroid @nightmareB4macross And yes, that little guy is soo cute!!!

And @pengbuzz it looks like you'll just need eight paper towel roles to start the Reinhardt's Folly!😁

I'm not doing it that big! O.O

[Papa Rat]

@pengbuzz Just wanted to say I love the new avatar! 👍

[pengbuzz]

8 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

@pengbuzz Just wanted to say I love the new avatar! 👍

Thanks!

[Thom]

9 hours ago, pengbuzz said:

I'm not doing it that big! O.O

Fine! I'm just trying to live vicariously through others...

 

...nice new avatar.

[tekering]

Another significant detail absent from the Cygnus CGI model I'm printing are these "croquet hoop" fuel pods on either side of the prow:

Even from photographed from the back end of the ship, they're still prominently visible up front.

Nonetheless, I had to kitbash my own because -- even at the tiny scale I'm working at -- the 3D model just isn't adequately detailed.

This "weekend project" has already occupied most of my free time this month, and I'm nowhere near finished...! 😅

[Papa Rat]

12 minutes ago, tekering said:

Another significant detail absent from the Cygnus CGI model I'm printing are these "croquet hoop" fuel pods on either side of the prow:

Even from photographed from the back end of the ship, they're still prominently visible up front.

Nonetheless, I had to kitbash my own because -- even at the tiny scale I'm working at -- the 3D model just isn't adequately detailed.

This "weekend project" has already occupied most of my free time this month, and I'm nowhere near finished...! 😅

Chef’s kiss

[Bolt]

34 minutes ago, tekering said:

Another significant detail absent from the Cygnus CGI model I'm printing are these "croquet hoop" fuel pods on either side of the prow:

Even from photographed from the back end of the ship, they're still prominently visible up front.

Nonetheless, I had to kitbash my own because -- even at the tiny scale I'm working at -- the 3D model just isn't adequately detailed.

This "weekend project" has already occupied most of my free time this month, and I'm nowhere near finished...! 😅

As ever, you are so diligent. Great work @tekering .

[Thom]

Nice and notable additions @tekering

[wm cheng]

That is amazing @tekering - such fine detailing, is it a resin printer that you're using?

You guys are so industrialist and have built so much!  All of it looking so great.

I've just learned to use our PLA printer at work and that's this 3D Print of the TOS Phaser.  It's finally finished, the thing I hate about PLA prints is the thing I hate most in modeling... SANDING.  It's so much sanding which is the part of modeling I hate, and there is so much sanding to do on PLA prints.  Your paint finish is only as good as the surface you've prepped for it and I learnt the price in my youth of speeding ahead to painting when I've not properly prepped the surface.

Anyways, I can finally call my 3D Print TOS Phaser finished with the metal parts I got from eBay.  I missed out on the Wand company phaser back then, now that I got my Wand company Tricorder, I felt I had to complete the trifecta of the Tricorder, Communicator and Phaser.  It's too bad this is just a static prop and nothing lights up and I have to make pew pew pew sounds with my mouth 😛

[Papa Rat]

3 hours ago, wm cheng said:

That is amazing @tekering - such fine detailing, is it a resin printer that you're using?

You guys are so industrialist and have built so much!  All of it looking so great.

I've just learned to use our PLA printer at work and that's this 3D Print of the TOS Phaser.  It's finally finished, the thing I hate about PLA prints is the thing I hate most in modeling... SANDING.  It's so much sanding which is the part of modeling I hate, and there is so much sanding to do on PLA prints.  Your paint finish is only as good as the surface you've prepped for it and I learnt the price in my youth of speeding ahead to painting when I've not properly prepped the surface.

Anyways, I can finally call my 3D Print TOS Phaser finished with the metal parts I got from eBay.  I missed out on the Wand company phaser back then, now that I got my Wand company Tricorder, I felt I had to complete the trifecta of the Tricorder, Communicator and Phaser.  It's too bad this is just a static prop and nothing lights up and I have to make pew pew pew sounds with my mouth 😛

Wow that came out awesome! All the work you put into this build was well worth it. 

[Big s]

5 hours ago, wm cheng said:

  It's too bad this is just a static prop and nothing lights up and I have to make pew pew pew sounds with my mouth 😛

If I tried to make phaser sound with my mouth, I’d probably sound like that drunk trying to sing along to a Mercyful Fate concert at the high note.

[SteveTheFish]

On 8/22/2025 at 11:31 AM, Radioguy said:

Love the Cygnus. I'd own a model if a mass produced one was made.

Haven't you heard? Round 2 has announced plans to re-release the old MPC Black Hole kits. Intention was announced to modify the Cygnus's length to make it more appropriate. I've heard that two kits are necessary to elongate the middle segment to make it more appropriate. Perhaps that's what they have in mind? I managed to get the old V.I.N.CENT kit here in Japan on YAJ for about 8,000 yen several years ago. Now they will re-release the old kit.

[pengbuzz]

8 hours ago, SteveTheFish said:

Haven't you heard? Round 2 has announced plans to re-release the old MPC Black Hole kits. Intention was announced to modify the Cygnus's length to make it more appropriate. I've heard that two kits are necessary to elongate the middle segment to make it more appropriate. Perhaps that's what they have in mind? I managed to get the old V.I.N.CENT kit here in Japan on YAJ for about 8,000 yen several years ago. Now they will re-release the old kit.

Hmm... I may hold off on my project to see if they have that kit at a reasonable price then. It'd be interesting to see of perhaps they mold some of the body sections in clear styrene.

 

[Radioguy]

10 hours ago, SteveTheFish said:

Haven't you heard? Round 2 has announced plans to re-release the old MPC Black Hole kits. Intention was announced to modify the Cygnus's length to make it more appropriate. I've heard that two kits are necessary to elongate the middle segment to make it more appropriate. Perhaps that's what they have in mind? I managed to get the old V.I.N.CENT kit here in Japan on YAJ for about 8,000 yen several years ago. Now they will re-release the old kit.

Guess you missed my follow-up post. I had really meant completed model (or toy). I can't handle kits anymore beyond a pre-painted snap-together one.

At least something like what Pegasus did with the Paramount '56 War Of The Worlds license. A kit, then a completed model, then a completed lit one, etc.

[Papa Rat]

I submitted a few photos for the HLJ Ma.K. contest that @Big s posted about. This is a smaller 1:35 scale which was fast and easy.  It was a fun motivator to try out brush painting lacquers and I think it turned out pretty alright. I was working on a diorama too but scrapped it in the end. 
Here’s a few images taken with my phone. Phone cameras are not too shabby these days. 

@Big s Did you finish up your build for the contest?

[Big s]

28 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

I submitted a few photos for the HLJ Ma.K. contest that @Big s posted about. This is a smaller 1:35 scale which was fast and easy.  It was a fun motivator to try out brush painting lacquers and I think it turned out pretty alright. I was working on a diorama too but scrapped it in the end. 
Here’s a few images taken with my phone. Phone cameras are not too shabby these days. 

@Big s Did you finish up your build for the contest?

It still looks cool even without the diorama. 
 

Unfortunately, I didn’t finish in time. I got the majority of the hard work done, primed the model and got a base color and a rough camo on it, but ran out of time due to stuff around the house. But I still plan to finish it up since I got pretty far already. I was gonna add some body and arm stripes, and of course decals and weathering. then I gotta do the interior and pilot and a bit of weathering on the inside to make things look a bit lived in since the pilot face looks a bit on the aged side (the guy’s face in the box pictures has grey facial hair). I don’t think I want him that old, but I would like to try a little bit of grey streaks to give a been there done that kinda look
I got a small base to attach the brass rods for a display and I want to do a sorta lunar surface kinda look. I also had scratch built a tower that I want to make look like a sorta communications use signal tower thingy. I’m just gonna take my time since I already didn’t make the deadline.

I think if I had another week or two, I’d have had it finished, but as a consolation, I get to take my time at this point

[Papa Rat]

41 minutes ago, Big s said:

It still looks cool even without the diorama. 
 

Unfortunately, I didn’t finish in time. I got the majority of the hard work done, primed the model and got a base color and a rough camo on it, but ran out of time due to stuff around the house. But I still plan to finish it up since I got pretty far already. I was gonna add some body and arm stripes, and of course decals and weathering. then I gotta do the interior and pilot and a bit of weathering on the inside to make things look a bit lived in since the pilot face looks a bit on the aged side (the guy’s face in the box pictures has grey facial hair). I don’t think I want him that old, but I would like to try a little bit of grey streaks to give a been there done that kinda look
I got a small base to attach the brass rods for a display and I want to do a sorta lunar surface kinda look. I also had scratch built a tower that I want to make look like a sorta communications use signal tower thingy. I’m just gonna take my time since I already didn’t make the deadline.

I think if I had another week or two, I’d have had it finished, but as a consolation, I get to take my time at this point

Sounds like you have a great plan. I would love to see it once you get time to finish it up. 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Papa Rat said:

Sounds like you have a great plan. I would love to see it once you get time to finish it up. 

I’ll be posting some pics here and there for sure. I usually am loaded with ideas, but have terrible time management.

[derex3592]

Final Report : Enterprise Leaving Space Dock : NCC-1701...No bloody A, B, C or D! 😂.

Polar Lights 1/1000 TOS Enterprise Space Seed Edition completed. This was a looong build because life interfered over the past year and a half, this kit was old, you can just tell.... it's my least favorite Enterprise design and the fit issues... My goodness. Soooo much putty and sanding to get rid of ALL the seams..thought it would never end... along with other issues that cropped up along the way...stupid clear domes that are now forever rattling around inside the saucer... But anyways!!!... I'm pretty darn happy with the final result. Looks good enough for me to want to display it at work with my other 1/1000 scale ships. Enjoy the pics! Onto the next unfinished kit on the list! 😁 

[MechTech]

WOW! I can't believe how many AWESOME builds I have been missing! I had to go through several pages and don't have time to comment on everyone's beautiful work! What the heck; everything from phasers to chickens besides the usual suspects!

My apologies, I'll try to get on more often. I have just been more busy and been spendingmore time with family than on the bench.

First off, my main excuse. After losing our one cat, Shadow back in February, a friend of my wife's talked her into getting a couple of kittens - for multiple reasons. Mainly that our exhisitng cat would have friends while we're out at work. Cats ARE pack animals and prefer social settings than being alone.

So, the latest edition to my workbench is Stormie and Tygra (L to R). And the whole gang chillin' on the couch. They were so tiny and young that they slept with us and always had to be with us. We lost A LOT of sleep! But they're getting used to everything now. It also means me backing off on the paint and glue while they'e around (which is A LOT too). Even now they'e up here with me😁

But I'm not a total slacker and did get some stuff done. The 1/35th Dougram DX comes with that GIANT backpack cannon and a tiny rocket pod! So I made a bigger rocket pod to "balance it" a bit better! Here's all the parts and making the rocket tips to glue into the pod.

The tine holes in the non-drilled out end are for "stays" made of wire to get glued in place.

And how they were made and cut-off on the lathe...

The F-35B is on hold for sci-fi stuff. But the cockpit is getting there. The seat is UPHOLSTERED! It's covered with THIN fabric from tiny wire tape on top of thin brass sheets. Then it's all glued together. The panels are Eduard photetch and seatbelts. The kit and Eduard did not include a joystick on the right, so I had to make one. The ejection seat pull handle is made from yellow and black thread white-glued and twisted together on a Dremmel. The main panel is made from decal bits. The Eduard one looked like a newspaper and I messed it up with a clear coat.

And finally, my old Takara Dougram Hasty Ironfoot gun muzzle wasn't looking so hot and getting nessed up on the seem (not visible). So I machined a new one in steel. Then heated it up to give it that burnt effect AND protect it from corrosion.

That's it for now. Thank you for checking in and I'll do better getting on more often. You guys make SUCH AWESOME  STUFF!!! - MT

[Papa Rat]

@MechTech Congratulations on the new additions. We are currently in talks with our kiddo about adopting a cat, but need to get a few things sorted before taking the plunge. ♥️

Also great work as usual!

[Big s]

1 hour ago, MechTech said:

a friend of my wife's talked her into getting a couple of kittens

Sounds like one of the main methods of cat distribution.

 

9 minutes ago, Papa Rat said:

We are currently in talks with our kiddo about adopting a cat

Gotta watch those items on the shelves. Cats are notorious for redecorating high spots 

[Radioguy]

6 hours ago, derex3592 said:

Final Report : Enterprise Leaving Space Dock : NCC-1701...No bloody A, B, C or D! 😂.

Polar Lights 1/1000 TOS Enterprise Space Seed Edition completed. This was a looong build because life interfered over the past year and a half, this kit was old, you can just tell.... it's my least favorite Enterprise design and the fit issues... My goodness. Soooo much putty and sanding to get rid of ALL the seams..thought it would never end... along with other issues that cropped up along the way...stupid clear domes that are now forever rattling around inside the saucer... But anyways!!!... I'm pretty darn happy with the final result. Looks good enough for me to want to display it at work with my other 1/1000 scale ships. Enjoy the pics! Onto the next unfinished kit on the list! 😁 

I absolutely love how they've paired them as a kit.

Definitely worthy of someone's approval...

[Papa Rat]

@derex3592Wow. That came out great! 😊

[Thom]

Good looking Enterprise @derex3592. Can't even see the frustration from here!

@MechTech So sorry for your loss. Can see you are giving the new little ones a wonderful home and a big sibling to boot. Oh yeah, nice work on the models...